lightened philosophers who have ever lived in the world, have become sincere and humble Christians; but have we ever heard of converts to Judaism! How do the Jews account for this?

In the preceding pages it has been shown, that, according to the prophecies of Moses, the Jews are, during their captivity, to grope at noon-day, as the blind gropeth in darkness.' Now, we would wish the Jews to consider what explanation they can give of this blindness? Wherein does it consist? According to the Christian scheme it is easily explained: it consists in their having rejected and crucified the promised Messiah, the Lord of Life. But, according to the system of modern Judaism, I know not how it admits of any explanation; and we have already seen to what wretched shifts David Levi is reduced, when he would explain the term blindness where it is predicted of the Israelites.

To a Jew, whose mind is filled with high notions of the exclusive privileges of his own

nation, it must certainly appear a most offensive declaration, that spiritual blindness hath happened unto Israel. But let the candid Jew seriously reflect, whether it be not in the nature of things equally mysterious, that God should have left the whole Gentile world in a state of blindness from the calling of Abraham till the coming of Jesus, upon the Christian hypothesis; and, on the Jewish hypothesis, till the present day. As God is no respecter of persons, and his tender mercies are over all his works, it is natural to suppose that there must be some equality in the administration of spiritual benefits both to the Jews and Gentiles. Upon the Christian scheme, there is such an equality; and after that the apostle of the Gentiles has, in the eleventh chapter of the Romans, taken a short and comprehensive view of the procedure of God towards both Jews and Gentiles, he closes the whole in the following words, (ver. 25.) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,) that'

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'blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, ' when I shall take away their sins: As con'cerning the gospel, they are enemies for your

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sakes; but as touching the election, they are 'beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts ' and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye, in times past, have not believed

God, yet have obtained mercy through their 'unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may 'obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them

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all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon 'all. O the depth of the riches both of the ' wisdom and the knowledge of God; how un'searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!'

To conclude: both Jews and Christians are

agreed that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were dictated by divine inspiration. Various passages of these Scriptures have been shown to meet in the character, the life, the last sufferings, and death of Jesus, and to accord with the declarations of the New Testament regarding the effects of his death, and his condition and offices since his exaltation.

It is undeniable that this person was the founder of the Christian religion, and is believed by his followers to be the Messiah promised to the Jews. It has been shown, that he was a righteous person in his doctrines and his actions, and it is certain, that neither he nor his first followers could gain any thing by an imposture; for he himself expired upon a cross, and the rewards of his disciples, in the earliest ages of the church, were prisons, persecution, ignominious and painful deaths. It is incontrovertible also, that though his religion was contrary to the prejudices and vices of the Jews and Gentiles,and was opposed by the whole power of the

reigning superstitions, aided by the secular authority of the Roman government, yet it prevailed so mightily by the force of conviction alone, that after three centuries it became the established religion of the Roman empire; and, since that period, it has numbered among its disciples the greatest and most learned men of the Gentile world, and has been rejected only by those who equally deny the truth of the Mosaic revelation. It is certain, that though this religion has been opposed by men of great wit, acuteness, and learning, yet the founder of it has never yet been proved to be an impostor or an enthusiast; nor have any facts been brought to light which invalidate his pretensions. It is certain, that since the Jews crucified Jesus they have never prospered. Within forty years after his death Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the Jews led away captive among all nations, among whom they have suffered great and dreadful calamities. And what is equally remarkable,